Zidane Open To January Signings

Zinedine Zidane has confirmed that Real Madrid could make signings in January but ruled out any departures.

Madrid’s decision not to replace the likes of Pepe, James Rodriguez and Alvaro Morata with experienced personnel has been put forward as a reason for their sluggish start to the season, and they were unconvincing once more in their 3-2 win against Malaga on Saturday.

“We started the game well and scored the first goal quickly, which was important,” the Coach said after the game.

“However, we began losing the ball and everything changed. The second half was very difficult, so we’re happy with the result.

“We’ll take the three points, although certain things didn’t go as we’d have liked.

“Bernabeu? We like playing here. We’ve had good games at home and we did well early on today, but some unusual things happened after that.

“Still, we’ll take the three points and see what happens in Valencia-Barcelona. Mistake? When our opponents come here, they play for their lives.

“If we don’t play at a very high level… but we won’t go overboard and say that we did everything wrong. The unusual thing is the number of times we lost the ball.

“Profligacy? Cristiano [Ronaldo] had chances to score, but we also have to look at their goalkeeper. He made good saves on Karim [Benzema], Cristiano…

“Still, we have to be positive. We picked up three points and we’ll surely get better. What we’d like to do is have seven good games in a row.

“Ceballos? He doesn’t lack anything needed to play. He’s just arrived and he’ll get minutes. He did very well when he played and we have to be patient with him.

“We have to keep working hard, me being the first, and nothing else. Benzema? He’s a player who gives his all. He’s happy and working hard.

“The fans make their decisions and he deserved his ovation today. January transfers? There definitely won’t be any outgoings.

“As for incomings, anything can happen so we’ll see, but we’re not talking about ins and outs right now.”